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2014年8月19日 星期二

Social Good Summit 2014

The Social Good Summit is a two-day
conference examining the impact of technology and new media on social good
initiatives around the world. Held during UN Week from September 21-22, the
Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders and grassroots
activists to discuss solutions for the greatest challenges of our time. Our
theme, #2030NOW, asks the question, “What type of world do I want to live in by
the year 2030?” During the Social Good Summit, global citizens around the world
unite to unlock the potential of technology to make the world a better place.

An
end to AIDS,
an epidemic that has killed 35 million, is logistically possible within our
lifetime, experts explained at the Summit. Activists and researchers are
working especially hard in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to 69% of the world's AIDS
patients, where they've brought treatment and education to the people.

British
photographer Marcus Bleasdale, who has been photographing violence in the
eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1999, discussed conflict minerals, such as
gold and diamonds, that are responsible for some of the region's worst
conflicts. Three other conflict minerals — tantalum, tungsten and tin — are
used to make electronics, such as laptops and cameras.

Sir Richard Branson, the
billionaire entrepreneur behind space traveling pioneer Virgin Galactic, said
commercial space travel could be available as early as next year. At $250,000,
the first tickets aren't cheap, but they provide an important initial step
toward more commonplace above-Earth travel.

In
October 2012, The Taliban targeted schoolgirl and blogger Malala Yousafzai because
she was outspoken about girls' rights. Less than a year after being shot, she
rallied for education at the Summit, explaining that every child has a right to
education.

When
he was 15 years old, Jack Andraka developed a new, smarter test to detect
pancreaticcancer.
Now, he wants to help other budding researchers by advocating for more
accessible scientific articles and research. Fees make knowledge become a
privilege for the elite, he said.

Big data is a
powerful tool governments and organizations can use for social good, but some
datasets are so large, they may create challenges to privacy. To protect
individuals' rights and strike a balance between big data and Internet freedom,
protection principals must be adopted, explained Robert Kirkpatrick, the
director of the U.N.'s Global
Pulse data initiative.

Space
and the ocean, both ripe for exploration, are duking it out for the right to be
called the real final frontier. At the Summit, Dr. Paul Bunje, senior director
of prize development and ocean health at the XPRIZE Foundation, and Alexandra Hall, senior director of Google Lunar
XPRIZE, debated which research opportunity deserves more attention.

Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of U.N. Women, explained that both men and
women can use social media to bring an end to violence against women.
Discussing the topic shines a light on the issue and helps educate people
through technology, she said.

The
U.N. Foundation's mPowering Action
app is making social good accessible to smartphone owners. With
a target demographic of people under the age of 25, the app allows users to
search a database of non-profit organizations and share ways they're making a
difference.

Malaria No More, an
organization working to end the disease, is seeking solutions through an
unexpected medium: cell phones. The group collects $1 text message donations
and uses them to fund life-saving malaria tests and
treatments for African children.